JEREMY WEST
Rear Tire Changer

Residence: Mooresville, NC
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Wife: Lisa
Children: Deegan

CONCORD, NC (September 10, 2003) - During the season-ending event at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2002, Matt Kenseth suffered a blown engine and finished 40th. It was a disappointing end to a spectacular 5-win season for Matt Kenseth, who finished 8th in the final standings. The next week, the team got another dose of bad news.

Rear tire changer Phil Drye and rear tire carrier Dave Smith notified crew chief Robbie Reiser that they were leaving the 17 team, one for Jeff Gordon's outfit and one for Dale Earnhardt, Jr.'s Budweiser team. The two-time defending World Pit Crew Champions had now lost two of the original seven over the wall members.

Time to panic? Not a chance. Roush Racing pit crew coach Andy Ward makes it a habit to continuously scout other team members for just such occasions. And he already had his eye on a young upstart with a fast air gun--Jeremy West.

The then 25-year old West was completing his fourth year with Jim Smith's Ultra Motorsports outfit, which fields entries in the Craftsman Truck Series and the Winston Cup car of Casey Atwood. West was a veteran tire changer for both teams at one time or another. Hungry for more and more experience going over the wall under pressure, West many times pulled double duty changing tires for both teams. That all changed when he got the call from Andy Ward to come try out for a position at Roush Racing.

Jeremy was told that he would be trying out for a position with either the #16 team of rookie Greg Biffle, or the "Killer Bees" of the legendary #17 team of Matt Kenseth. Robbie Reiser, himself, showed up to view the tryouts when Jeremy West auditioned.

After a few simulated stops, Robbie hired Jeremy on the spot as the rear tire changer for the #17 team.

"Yeah, you could say that the tryout must have gone good," said West. "I didn't expect to hear anything the day I tried out. I figured they'd get together and talk things over and find a place for me in a week or so," he added.

Over the past year, he has participated in the daily regimen of the Union 76 World Pit Crew Champions, whose two back-to-back banners hang proudly in the shop. Their routine consists of pit crew practice every day at 11 a.m., followed by a 30-minute workout in the upstairs gym. They don't go up there to pump iron, either. The team focuses on other off-the-wall training techniques like working out with the heavy medicine ball and teamwork drills.

"It's the competition that's the main difference from the truck series to Nextel Cup," says West. "Being a part of this team is having to live up to the reputation they've built over the last two years. I'm looking forward to the pit crew championship this year at Rockingham, but I haven't quite started focusing on that just yet-we're still working on being the first off of pit road every week for right now," he added.

One thing is for sure--West has stepped into a major role on the Killer Bees pit crew... and he's fitting in just fine.